The Tennessee State men’s basketball team will host its final home contest of the season against SIUE for Senior Night on Thursday. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.

TIGERS AT A GLANCE

Tennessee State is coming off of a, 73-71, loss to Belmont on Thursday dropping the Tigers to 3-24 overall and 2-11 in league play.

TSU is averaging 68.9 points per game while shooting 42.7 percent from the field. Senior Patrick Miller has been the team’s top scorer all season long and is leading the OVC in points per game (23.2). M.J. Rhett has also been a top contributor, pouring in 10.6 points and securing 9.3 boards each outing.

The Tigers, led by second year head coach Travis Williams, returned five letter winners from last year’s 18-15 squad. However, the club lost four starters due to graduation last year, but the three big missing pieces are All-OVC second team members Robert Covington and Kellen Thornton as well as Jordan Cyphers. Last season, that trio of players averaged 43 points per contest which was 60 percent of the team’s scoring.

LAST TIME OUT

Patrick Miller scored 23 points and Jay Harris added a career-high 19, but the Tennessee State men’s basketball team fell to Belmont, 73-71, on Thursday night in the Curb Event Center.

Miller finished 8-for-21 (38 percent) from the field and four assists while Harris was 5-of-9 (56 percent) and 7-for-7 from the charity stripe.

M.J. Rhett recorded his 13th double-double this season with 10 points and a personal-best 19 rebounds.

True freshman Jamonte Graham also finished with 10 points and his 4-for-8 line helped Tennessee State (3-24, 2-11 OVC) shoot 42.2 percent for the game.

SCOUTING THE COUGARS

SIUE comes into Thursday’s matchup after a convincing 83-68 road win over Austin Peay at the Dunn Center. The Cougars have now won five of their last seven games and seven of their last 10.

SERIES HISTORY

Tennessee State will square off against SIUE for the fifth time, and the Tigers are a perfect 4-0 against the Cougars.

LAST TIME WE MET

Making his return to his home state, Kellen Thornton led the Tennessee State men's basketball team to an 83-73 victory on Wednesday night in Edwardsville, Ill.

Thornton finished the game with a team-high 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting. He also led the team with seven boards.

Fellow Illinois products Robert Covington and Patrick Miller also cashed in 18 and 17 points, respectively, while Jordan Cyphers added 18 of his own from the shooting guard position.

COVERAGE

Updates on the game will be available throughout the game on the official twitter page via @TSU_Tigers. Live stats and video will also be available for the games. Links can be found on tsutigers.com under the schedule.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

Tennessee State will return to action on Thursday, Feb. 27 at Morehead State. Game time is slated for 7:00 p.m.